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Dorchester

Who'da thunk it, that all the snow would be melting on Feb. 7, the same day of the planned snowcapades at Franklin Park? Still, Liam reports there was enough snow left for participants to have a blast, sledding and snowman building. With photos.

Boston Police report arresting a Dorchester man on domestic assault-and-battery charges after he allegedly beat his girlfriend bloody for bringing over some people he didn't want in their apartment early this morning.

And then, later this morning, police arrested those people after they allegedly returned to his 12 Bailey St. apartment, broke down the door and completely trashed the place:

Per witnesses, the four individuals were seen entering the building, and shortly thereafter loud banging was heard in the hallway consistent with a door being kicked in and smashing sounds inside the apartment. Officers discovered a smashed TV in the driveway of the apartment in addition to the apartment being in total disarray.

Arrested around 12:25 this morning on the domestic assault-and-battery charge: Anthony Smith, 50.

Arrested later in the morning on charges of breaking and entering in the nighttime and malicious destruction of property: Natasha A. Charlton, 18, of Dorchester, Kelli L. Johnson, 19, of Quincy, Michael A. Goncalves, 17, of Randolph, and Brett G. Callahan, 18, of Dorchester.

Rashard Monroe, 18, pleaded guilty to manslaughter yesterday for the shooting death of his friend Kendell Floyd on Feb. 11, 2008, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. He also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.

Monroe was sentenced to three years in state prison and three years of probation for the death, which happened while Monroe was playing with a loaded, unregistered gun in a Wainwright Street apartment, the DA's office says:

Following his arrest by Boston Police, Monroe indicated that he did not mean to shoot the victim and expressed remorse over his friend's death. He repeated those statements at sentencing, apologizing to Floyd’s mother, aunt, and grandmother, who were present in court for the proceedings.

Some people put paintings or swordfish on their walls. Not Christopher Swanson of Allston. Boston Police report that shortly after noon today, officers swung by Swanson's pad at 3 Islington St. to pick him up on some outstanding warrants. While there, they noticed Swanson had given a prominent place of honor on his wall to a machine gun:

Officers then asked the suspect if the gun was real, and he stated that it was in fact a real machine gun. Officers then asked the suspect if there were any other guns in the house, and he directed officers to a bedroom where they found another handgun with a large capacity magazine.

After they secured the guns, they then found a metal throwing star and a butterfly knife, both also illegal in Massachusetts. So now, in addition to the original warrants, Swanson faces a variety of weapons-possession charges.

Meanwhile, on Saturday night, police arrested Jenice Byron, 20, of Dorchester, on charges she was packing an illegal handgun in her Louis Vuitton bag as she walked down Hancock Street in Uphams Corner.

... This spider probably found paltry hunting out there, and moved toward the building, with it's year-round warmth and year round source of delicious crickets, cockroaches, woodlice, and earwigs. When I found him (his large palps and skinny abdomen suggest he is a male) he had fallen on hard times. He was sluggish, and after some handling began to curl his legs toward his underside in the classic spider death pose. Hopefully his offspring are out there in the warmth of decomposing leaves, snug in an egg-case the female is carrying ...

Candelaria congratulates the MBTA for the new look of the Fields Corner and Shawmut stops on the Red Line:

... The new Fields Corner and Shawmut Stations on the Red Line in Dorchester are great examples of how good design can transform. They new stations are so beautiful, in fact, that they almost ... almost obliterate the memory of just how dreary and depressing these stations were. ...

Which is: When you call in your order, don't use your actual address. Boston Police report arresting four Dorchester residents for armed robbery with a sawed-off shotgun Friday night - in the same apartment they'd listed when they called up a local pizza shop to order three pizzas and a calzone.

Police say one of the four met the delivery guy downstairs at 105 Lawrence Ave. around 11 p.m., handed him $40 as if to pay him, then pulled out a handgun and demanded all his money:

According to the victim at this same time, two other black males in their late teens exited the building, one armed with a silver handgun and the other with a sawed-off rifle. After the suspect's was robbed of his money, the suspects instructed him not to look back and they fled into 105 Lawrence Avenue.

When police arrived, they went up to Apartment 6, from which the order had come. They say they found the four hiding in the bathroom - four other people were lounging about the living room - along with a black and brown handled sawed-off shotgun. Oh, and elsewhere in the apartment, police say they found three pizza boxes.

Boston Police report that officers found "several knives" on a student when they responded to reports of a fight at Boston Latin Academy in Dorchester around 1:50 p.m. on Tuesday:

On arrival, officers were speaking to the students when they received information that the some of the kids may be armed with knives. While still on scene, officers learned that prior to the disturbance, a group of kids entered the nearby store and attempted to steal knives.

Boston Police have posted a series of photos they say show two guys who have broken into the Frederick Pilot Middle School, 270 Columbia Rd. in Dorchester, twice now, most recently today:

During these two incidents, numerous items were taken from the school including laptop and desktop computers, printers, and flat screen televisions. In addition to the stolen items, the suspect(s) destroyed a number of items in the school during these incidents. Amongst the items vandalized during the breaks are several doors and windows in the suspect’s attempts to gain entry to the building.

Boston Police report arresting a 15-year-old for unlawful possession of a firearm after he allegedly tried to get the gun into the Dorchester Education Complex, 9 Peacevale Rd., around 3:25 p.m. yesterday. Police did not say if the incident was related to the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old not long after at Gallivan Boulevard and Patterson Street.

The police report suggests the teen may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier: He allegedly tried going through a metal detector at the front entrance with the gun in his backpack.

Dignity begins and ends in Dorchester. Dorchesterites are proud for justifiable reasons. Often maligned and often overlooked as an afterthought, a swollen appendix easily excised, a blemish, a corral for Boston's citizens deserving the least consideration, Dorchester provides the muscle and the soul a world-class metropolis requires. It is a vital organ that buzzes a fugue of intertwined ambitions. Imagine if all Dorchesterites went on strike. Boston would shut down. Coffee would overflow unattended urns, hotel bedsheets wouldn't be changed, waste baskets wouldn't be emptied, bills wouldn't be paid on time and accounts receivable would languish unattended. Someone has to mind the store. The good people of Dorchester fill the roles they've been allotted and they do it with both vim and vigor. ...

The Boston Natural Areas Network is sponsoring a couple of sled-dog exhibits on Feb. 1: Get to watch sled dogs, well, mushing. They'll be mushing at Belle Isle Marsh off Bennington Street in East Boston from 10 to noon and at John Paul II Park off Gallivan Boulevard in Dorchester from 2 to 4 p.m.

Boston Police are warning owners of Sidekick cell phones that thieves are out to get them. Police say 14% of all robberies in Boston - or 300 last year - involved the T-Mobile smartphones.

Police say they've shut two stores in recent days that may have been fencing stolen Sidekicks - Cellular Paging of JP, 420 Geneva Ave. in Dorchester, where detectives yesterday found 475 used Sidekicks, and G&M Electronics Wireless Store, 7 Blue Hill Ave., which had 71 used Sidekicks, including, police say, a stolen Sidekick it bought from an undercover detective.

Police add that almost all the thefts happen either before or after school.

Local Spice posts a copy of a letter that somebody's been taping to doors on Auckland Street in Dorchester about saving parking spaces. "Your neighbor and friend" is very upset about people saving spaces before the snow even starts to fall and long after it starts to melt and sets out exact time periods in which it's fair to save spaces - and only after you've gone to the work of actually digging them out - and concludes:

To all of those who have been honest and respectful thus far, I thank you. To all of those who may have done the aforementioned "spot marking" faux pas, please make a fresh start this year and be a good neighbor by not doing it any more. Auckland Street will be a nicer place to live and we will have one more reason to say why Dorchester is better than Southie!! Have a great 2009!

Devotees of the sport of Boston winter parking will want to set aside a few minutes to read the whole thing.